The Trap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer

and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain?

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning,

"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the

house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,

"Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is

of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap

in the house."

The pig sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse,

but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you

are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow. She said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm

sorry for you but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to

face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house; like the

sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the

darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the

trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the

hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you

treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his

hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came

to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer

butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people

came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to

provide enough meat for all of them.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think

it doesn't concern you, remember when one of us is threatened,

we are all at risk.

In the book of Genesis, Cain said this about Abel, his brother,

to our God: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep

an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage

one another.

REMEMBER: EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S

TAPESTRY; OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

~Author Unknown~